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Tobyhanna Depot marks milestone: CO remembers past, looks to future

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February 1 marked another significant milestone for Tobyhanna Army Depot. In 2012, we marked the 100th anniversary of the Army's arrival in the Poconos, when the Army chose a site here in Tobyhanna for field artillery training.

This year, we celebrate the 60th anniversary of the opening of Tobyhanna Signal Depot on Feb. 1, 1953.

What then represented a $35 million construction cost for a new Signal Corps depot to serve Army units in the Northeast United States is today a worldwide enterprise providing the latest technologies to all branches of the armed forces.

Our modern facilities, high-tech equipment and extensive radar campus represent more than a $1 billion investment to ensure that the men and women of our armed forces have the finest command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (C4ISR) weapon systems.

These systems make our military members more effective and increase the readiness of our military forces.

Sixty years ago, Col. William Mack, the depot's first commander, signed the order that activated Tobyhanna Signal Depot.

Construction started in June 1951; that exciting news brought the promise of employment to a region suffering high unemployment lingering from the end of World War II.

As then, so now.

Today, Tobyhanna employs more than 5,000 regional residents and has an annual economic impact of $4.4 billion. In fact, Tobyhanna's presence creates almost 20,000 jobs in Northeastern Pennsylvania.

The Army chose Tobyhanna through the efforts of a regional native, Joseph Marinangeli, a high-level Signal Corps civilian. He recalled the Army's earlier use of the site for field artillery training beginning in 1912 and that the Army could reacquire land for its new depot.

The site's location, convenient access to road and rail transportation, and an available labor pool all were factors in the Army's decision-making process.

It is a proud legacy that he helped to create.

Over the years, Tobyhanna established an outstanding record of service to the men and women of our armed forces.

Founded during the Korean War, Tobyhanna has provided essential communications and electronics systems and support to our forces as they fought in Vietnam, Grenada, Panama, and the Persian Gulf.

Tobyhanna delivered the equipment that sustained the U.S. and its allies during the Cold War that ended with the collapse of the Soviet Union and the Warsaw Pact.

Since the 9/11 terrorist attacks, Tobyhanna has operated at peak levels, rapidly delivering sophisticated C4ISR systems to our warfighters in Iraq and now in Afghanistan, and across the globe in support of overseas contingency operations.

While the depot's missions have changed and grown over seven decades, Tobyhanna has always innovatively applied technology.

These innovations range from the broad application of automated test equipment, the design and fabrication of satellite communications systems, to the latest computer-aided engineering systems that enable us to efficiently design and integrate advanced communications and electronics systems.

Tobyhanna is a recognized leader in environmental protection, with award-winning programs for recycling, pollution prevention and energy and natural resource conservation.

Moreover, the depot has carefully planned for its future, and today it possesses the advanced equipment, machinery, test ranges and modern physical plant that are configured to efficiently perform our many high-tech missions.

Last year, operations began in a state-of-the-art, environmentally friendly finishing center that expands the depot's capacity to repair, refinish and paint large, tactical systems.

As we celebrate our 60th birthday, we know that Tobyhanna's greatest strength is the people of Northeastern Pennsylvania.

It is your friends, family members and neighbors who are recognized for the efficiency, cost-effectiveness and quality of their work throughout the Defense Department. Teams of depot personnel routinely deploy in support of contingency operations and on emergency missions to repair a critical system in the United States or halfway around the world.

Since 2001, more than 2,900 employees and their families have sacrificed much and put their lives on hold by volunteering to serve in Iraq and Afghanistan to directly support our warfighters.

Today, Tobyhanna is the Army's Center of Technical and Industrial Excellence for communications and electronics, avionics, and missile guidance and control systems. The depot also maintains and repairs ground communications and electronics systems for the U.S. Air Force, long- and medium-range radars for the Marine Corps, and even depth detectors for Navy submarines.

The strong and consistent support of elected officials, business, education, labor and community leaders, and the general public continues to demonstrate the close bonds that exist between the depot and the region.

Tobyhanna and its personnel are proud of what's been accomplished. Marinangeli, Mack, and all of the leaders and workers who founded and built Tobyhanna would be so proud of what their efforts have produced some 60 years later. We are confident that the people of Northeast Pennsylvania share in that pride as we continue our tradition of excellence in electronics in support of our armed forces and as good neighbors.

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